


The Kids of Yesterday

by spacedbabaylan



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Fix-It, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Harold Jenkins - Freeform, Reginald Hargreeves - Freeform, Theory of some villains are their siblings, de-age, just something I wrote for fun, mentioned Hotel Oblivion characters but barely, mentions of Dave and Claire, siblings being siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 16:59:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18450806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacedbabaylan/pseuds/spacedbabaylan
Summary: Spoilers for Umbrella Academy Season 1. The UA kids Days of Future Past themselves to try and save the world again. This time, they’d do things right. The only problem is they’re all adults in kids bodies. Reliving their childhood could be a bitch but it’s okay when they have each other.





	The Kids of Yesterday

 

“I don’t know if this will work, but we have to **_try_ **”

The light of Five’s portal enveloped them, and then the world ended.

Five opened his eyes. They were back at home, at the Academy. He looked at his six siblings, now de-aged (and Ben alive again) just like him.  
  
“Well fuck me, it worked!”

 

\----

 

“Dad, can Vanya join us in training?” Allison brought up while they were in the drawing room.  
  
Hargreeves raised a perfectly coiffed eyebrow. “She is perfectly ordinary, Number Three. No use in harming her or putting your sister in danger”  
  
Vanya sighed and went back to composing a new song. Being a kid again in this family sucked but now she knows she wasn’t “ordinary” at all and what caused it, she had stopped taking her anxiety medication.

Their plan was simple; Find a way to naturally control her powers so she doesn’t cause the end of the world and to do that, they need to be around her constantly to help and monitor her. This means she had to take part in missions now.  
  
Klaus looked at Vanya and tilted his head, then looked at Five and Ben. Ben gave him a look over the book he was reading but otherwise remained silent. Looks like it had to be him who should suggest it.  
  
“Why can’t Vanya be our lookout or support? All effective units need eyes from another vantage point ”  
  
Reginald Hargreeves...was not surprised, but he definitely gave pause. The silence that followed stretched. Maybe it was because it was Klaus, of all people, who suggested it.  
  
“I was under the impression that _you_ are the designated lookout and support, Number Four,” Hargreeves said carefully. It was dangerous when Hargreeves gives you his full attention and Klaus usually caved. But Klaus didn't.  
  
“I guess that’s true. But our assignments are getting a lot more dangerous now. We need to be careful. If she can’t participate in the actual fights, then she can at least do mission control”  
  
All of Klaus’s siblings looked at him in surprise. He rolled his eyes. This isn’t his first rodeo with discussing tactics, so _suck it_ guys.

Hargreeves...well he wasn’t _smiling_ , but he looked extremely pleased. Klaus felt a twinge of pain. When he was thirteen (in his old life), he would have done anything for this kind of validation from their father, but...he wasn’t a kid anymore... _mentally_ . He wasn’t thirteen mentally, and _damn_ if that’s going to get hard to get used to.

Hargreeves leaned back and appraised his children. He then turned his attention to Vanya, who was tuning her violin.    
  
“Number Seven”  
  
Vanya looked up at him and held his gaze, “Yes, Sir?”. If this plan is to work, she had to play her part perfectly, and that means sounding disaffected.  
  
“Your brother and sister want you to start training with them and then coming with them on missions. What do you think?” Hargreeves steepled his fingers together.  
  
Vanya shrugged, “That sounds fine to me. If the others are alright with it, I’ll do it”. And then she went back to maintaining her instrument.    
  
Hargreeves tilted his head at her reaction, then turned to his other children. “What say you, boys?”  
  
Diego shrugged, “If she wants to, she can”. Ben nodded his head, “Vanya could learn a lot by observing and Klaus is right. An extra pair of eyes would be a great help out there”

Luther kept quiet but nodded. Five just hummed in affirmation and went back to...whatever he was doing. Five had always been the brains of the operation no matter what Luther or Diego would like to think.

  
“Then it is settled. Starting tomorrow, Seven is part of this team. Seven, I want you to wake up earlier than the others, to start your training”  
  
There was an aura of visible relief in the children’s posture. Vanya carefully put her violin back in its case and smiled at her father.

“As you wish, Dad”

 

\----

 

“I can’t believe it _worked_ !” Luther said in complete awe.  
  
“I can’t believe it was that _easy_ ,” Five groused. The Academy decided to make the attic their “office headquarters”. They cleaned it out (Stopping any attempts from Grace to help them) and put a little desk in the middle which they gathered around.  
  
Ben and Five brought their books, Allison her dress mannequin, Vanya her sheet music and an extra stand, Luther (surprisingly) brought some of his vinyl records and player.

“We all just had to gang up on Dad,” sighed Allison.  
  
Vanya shook her head, “No. It was Klaus standing up to him that did it, I think”. Klaus grinned, “I can’t take all the credit, sis. You’ve wanted to be on the team for so long, that when you went ‘Meh, whatever Dad. Cool”, threw him for a loop. Never seen him that confused”  
  
Ben thumbed a well-loved copy of the Art of War. “He was surprised, but we can’t let our guard down,” he put the book on top of the table. “So what’s the next plan on training Vanya ‘secretly’?’

Allison put down a binder with news clippings and photocopied paragraphs from books.”I don’t know, but if we are doing this, we are doing this together. As _family._ You all understand this if we want to stop what happens when we turn thirty”  
  
The other six reluctantly nod their head.  
  
Five picked up the binder. “So we’re all agreed? _Good._ Let’s begin our research at the top and we can start with what happened on the day we were born”

 

\-----

 

“I was born the same day as the Academy Kids! I think I’m like them. I must be! I haven’t quite figured out my powers yet, but with your help, we can find it out,” the boy pleaded their father.  
  
Harold Jenkins. The man who would later grow up to manipulate Vanya. Allison had never hated a person as much as the boy standing in front of them.

“You have no power. You will never have power. Now go home!” Hargreeves scolded him.

But that’s the problem, wasn’t it? This wasn’t the man named Leonard yet. This was a boy. A boy begging their father for help from his awful life and Allison, as a mother...as a future mother (she _will_ see her baby Claire again) cannot stand for this injustice to a literal _child._

“No...Please! Just...I….You have to let me stay, I came all this way. Please don’t make me go back”.

Allison glanced at Luthor beside her. She then noticed Vanya quietly observing from a crack in the doorway. Ben had a hand protectively gripping her arm.

“A little word of advice, my boy. Not everyone in this world can be powerful. Chasing something unattainable is a recipe for a lifetime of disappointment and resentment,” Hargreeves grabbed the boy’s arm and shoved him away. “So get off my property”  
  
The crowd roared with laughter. Allison had a split second to make this decision. She looked at the miserable boy with tears pooling in his eyes and took a deep breath.  
  
She ran past her father about to close the gate to their home and proclaimed in a loud voice, “ **_I heard a rumor_ ** you’ll all stop laughing at this kid and think deeply why you’re doing it. Or are you all just this cruel?”  
  
The laughter died down. There was an uncomfortable silence that followed as everyone suddenly avoided looking at Allison, who was glaring at them all. She then turned her attention to Harold. Oh no. **_No_ ** _._ Harold was looking at her with such adoration in his eyes. _Hell, no_ is he going to think she is saving him. She grabbed his shirt and lead him away from the crowd.  
  
She cut him off before he could get a word in. “I’m not doing this for you. We don’t even know each other. I don’t even _like_ you”  
  
Harold looked like he had been kicked. Allison rolled her eyes. “But I’m helping you because of my sister”  
  
“Your...S-sister? You don’t have-”  
  
“Listen here and listen well, Harold Jenkins.   **_I heard a rumor_ ** that your dad will be arrested by child services later. Now get changed before going home, have a good life and _leave us alone_ . You’ll be fine”  
  
\---  
  
“You didn’t have to do that,” Vanya said quietly. They were together sitting across Grace’s station. Grace was humming to herself as she did a cross-stitch while charging.

“Well, I wanted to,” Allison answered her sister. “He may have done...the thing he did to us..to _you_ ...but he was important to you for a really short time”  
  
Vanya stayed silent. She contemplatively looked at her violin. “You were right about him, but he needed help. Thank you”  
  
Allison smiled. “Hey, no problem. We’re family. That’s what we do”.

The girls sit there listening to Grace hum. Diego was usually never far away from Grace. After what happened in the other timeline, he was always checking if their mother was still there and was protective of her.

Vanya blinked as an idea formed in her head. She now knew how to make it up to Diego and Mom. She stood up and then went up to Grace. “Mom?” she asked hesitantly.  
  
Grace looked up at Vanya and smiled serenely at her, “Yes, my dear?”  
  
Vanya spied Diego coming over towards them. She smiled, “Mom, how do you feel about getting your own room?”

 

\----

The kids were at the diner after Vanya carefully wheedled their father that they needed space in the foyer for practice and suggesting that maybe Grace get a station and room near theirs so she can properly monitor them. Five had bought his siblings enough sweets and coffee to topple an elephant or two. Currently, they had more of their plans open in front of them and even more notes, scribbled out on napkins.  
  
“Thanks,” grumbled Diego. Vanya tilted her head, “For what?”  
  
Diego gave her an unimpressed look. “For Mom,” he mumbled. Vanya grinned, “Eh, we’re family. That’s what we do”. She winked at Allison who laughed and stole a donut pop from Diego’s plate. Diego snorted but he had a small smile on his face.  
  
Luther gave a cough. “So our plan is to find all our other ‘siblings’ and...then what? We can’t just go, ‘Hey, I got powers, you got powers. Let’s be friends’”

Ben looked up as Klaus snorted into his food. He closed his book, “Yes”.  
  
Klaus laughed as Luther balked out, “That’s not how that works!”  
  
Ben shrugged. “It definitely won’t if we do it that way. I don’t think being creepy is our aim”

Klaus had been cutting donuts into tiny pieces and then mixing them with other cut donuts and then eating them. He squinted at his brothers “Neither is manipulating them into following us, Ben. If that was the plan you and Five had been thinking about...”  
  
To their surprise and Klaus’s dismay, Ben kept quiet. Klaus thinned his lips. Five rolled his eyes. “Well, that was Plan A _and_ B,” Five admitted with a huff. “Unless _you_ have a better plan than genuinely befriend more than forty of our siblings, which, I will remind you, will take time?”  
  
Klaus straightened and glared at Five. “Yes. Because these kids probably had a shitty life or a life even worse than us! I’m not going to brainwash a bunch of kids into becoming this... _Freak_ League to stop Vanya when the time comes. No offense, Vanya”  
  
Vanya winced, “None taken... I think. Five, was _brainwashing an army_ of superhuman kids unto our side to prevent the apocalypse really yours and Ben’s first plan?”  
  
Five crossed his arms, “Finding and convincing them, then when they refuse, we suggest them into joining”. He looked at Allison. Allison grit her teeth, “No. No Fucking way! Not after Claire and Vanya”  
  
“If we don’t do this, you won’t even get to _see_ Claire,” Five hissed in exasperation. Allison stood up and stormed away. Then she came back, grabbed her food and coffee, then stormed away to a seat farthest away from Five.

Vanya glared at him. “I won’t use my powers either against them. Five, had it ever occurred to you that maybe...some of the villains we faced as kids could have been our siblings?”  
  
Five nodded. “That’s exactly what I suspected. Hargreeves had been keeping tabs on every weirdo we came across. And he tried hunting down all the babies simultaneously born on October 1st, right? So I got his records and cross-referenced them”  
  
Luther sighed, “Putting aside the blatant theft, what did you find?”  
  
Five took out a list. It contained names of women, their place of residences, and their ages on the 1st of October 1989. There were more than forty of them.  
  
“Oh,” Luther said quietly. Klaus took the list and sat down. “Our moms,” he said sadly. Five nodded. “We have no indication how many of our other siblings are even alive. If we want to do this right...” he locked eyes with Vanya, “if we’re going to get you and all of us safe past our thirtieth year, we need a new strategy. I hate saying this but we need all the help we can get”  
  
At once, every other sibling, except Ben, objected.  
  
“Five, what if the other kids have superpowers that are dangerous? Remember Obscura? He was a monster. What if one of our ‘siblings’ has an even worse power?”  
  
“I accounted for that,” Five said tiredly. “It’s better if we’re able to monitor them and fix that early rather than when they get stronger”  
  
Klaus slammed his hand in front of Five, “We are not killing anyone”.

Five raised an eyebrow, “Did I say we’re going to kill them? I say we suppress their powers”  
  
It was Vanya’s turn to get mad, “That’s worse. Five, we don’t want them to become like me!”  
  
Diego rested his face on his hand. “Can we not do the evil boot camp route? And where will we put them? We can’t take these kids away, especially if they actually have loving families”  
  
Ben patted his notes, “Not take them completely away if they do have families. That’s illegal. We’re going to open a proper school”.  
  
There was silence.  
  
Klaus slumped in his seat. “Ben. Five. That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” Klaus grumbled.  
  
Ben shrugged off his brother’s sarcasm with a smile, “We thought about it. It would be like a boarding school. The house has enough rooms for all of us. That way we could keep tabs on Vanya’s powers and the others as well”  
  
There was another silence.  
  
Luther leaned on his seat and looked down, “The two of you thought about this well but what would Dad do when he finds out?”  
  
Five gave him a grin and spread out his hands. “What makes you think he doesn’t know? Hell, I bet he’d be happy to observe and have all of us under his roof”

Vanya piped up, “We don’t have a curriculum! Hell, we don’t even have teachers or tutors”. “We have Pogo and Mom,” Ben answered her patiently. “We can all draft a simple curriculum and give it to Pogo to go over”  
  
Luther sank even further in his seat. “This is…a lot to take in but it honestly makes the most sense at the moment. Diego, what do you think?”  
  
Diego shrugged, “I’m not happy that we’re isolating ourselves as a bunch of freaks and now a class of them? I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, even if I’m not so sure about it, but this is our chance to start over too as...you know...a somewhat okay bunch of kids. No more looking for validation from Dad, no more insecurities about our stupid powers. Just people living our lives and making the most of it”  
  
Before any more of them can argue there was a timid, “Excuse me?”. A girl with long black hair in pigtails, brown skin, round glasses and in overalls approached them. They froze. The Academy had never actually naturally made friends their age because of the isolation from the world. Allison was the most outgoing but even she admitted she sometimes used her power to make those friends. Vanya was really shy, Five never really cared for anyone outside his siblings and Dolores, Ben and Klaus were very close because of their powers, Diego stuck close to Grace most of the time, and Luther was just...awkward.  
  
They all stared at her uncomfortably, not knowing what to say. She twiddled her thumbs but powered on, “My Dad and Mom are new to the city. We’re looking for this mansion? We’re moving in the neighborhood a block from it”. She pulled up a map and encircled in red is their home.  
  
Before any of his siblings can react, Ben tilted his head at her, “What if we gave you the wrong instructions?”. She shrugged and said, “We can always ask around to confirm and then I’d know you’re jerks if you do”.  
  
Ben leaned back with a mysterious smile, “Good head on this one”. Diego shook his head in exasperation. He stood up and extended his hand. “That’s our home. It’s a walk away but it will be the first thing you’ll see when you turn the corner. I’m guessing you don’t know who we are if you don’t know about the manor, Miss-”  
  
“Patch. Eudora Patch. I know, weird name, but what can you do?” she shrugged and took his hand in hers. “You got me. Who are you exactly?”  
  
Diego could only look at her bug-eyed as his mouth opened up and down and he shook. Klaus looked at Ben who gave him a smile and nod then turned his attention back to the girl in amazement. Maybe Diego was right, this was a second chance to not only save the world but make things better. Vanya and Allison gave each other a knowing grin staring at Diego and Patches, Luther looked on in polite confusion, and Five rolled his eyes then kicked Diego in the foot to get it on.  
  
Diego glared at his brother then swallowed. “U-uhm...We-we’re uh...I-I’m Diego Hargreeves and these are my s-siblings. We’re very h-happy to meet you”  
  
Patches smiled at them all, “Happy to be here!”  
  
\----  
  
**_A few months later:_ **

“Oscar! Wait up! Pogo said we’re not supposed to test our powers unless we’re in a contained area!”, a dark skinned girl with a red pin with a white bird indentation shouted after a boy running to the courtyard.  
  
“That’s why I’m testing this trick outside! Heya Klaus, Hey Allison!” He greeted the two as he took out a deck of cards and shuffled them then ran to the courtyard to cause mischief, with the girl exasperatedly chasing after him.  
  
Klaus kept quiet and waited until the kids cleared out. “Who knew the Murder Magician was exactly like us”. Allison leaned over her fashion magazines she was sharing with Klaus. “I always wondered but I never had the chance to find out. Dad took him away. You know, even if he did try to kill us multiple times, I’m not mad at Oscar. Not this version anyway. He’s a sweet kid”  
  
Klaus tucked his feet under him. “Allie, do you...do you think of Claire? I try not to think about Dave a lot but sometimes he justs….creeps in”. He leaned back suddenly exhausted. “I really miss him”  
  
Allison smiled sadly. She put an arm around Klaus and sighed. “Every day, Klaus. The pain never goes away. I see Claire every night in my sleep”. She properly hugs her brother. “I’m really sorry for your loss, Klaus. Maybe one day, you’ll finally get to see Dave again”  
  
Vanya watched her siblings have a quiet moment and decided not to disturb them. Dave and Claire were sore topics to the two of them and Vanya would have loved to meet her niece or her brother’s one true love. Maybe one day, she’ll get that chance.  
  
She passed by Grace who waved at her and she waved back. She was with Patches and Diego. Patches only ever allowed Diego and the siblings to call her that, and even then, just barely. To everyone else she was Dora. Patches was an amazing person. When the initial shock of them having powers died down, she wasn’t too phased by it. She wasn’t even bothered by their mom being a robot and Pogo. She treated them with respect and Grace and Pogo, in turn, adore her. She was even not too bothered by their Father. She reasoned to the siblings, she had met worse people in her Dad’s job (he was Police Chief). Strangely, Hargreeves took no offense to the completely ordinary little girl who just smiles at him even if he insults her. She was the siblings' first real friend and Diego is clearly so happy to have her around.

Vanya headed towards the library where she knew Ben and Five were in. A boy with white, vacant eyes stood up when she entered. He nodded to the two boys, then her, and then left them alone.  
  
“He’ll grow up to be the Scientific Man someday. It’s kind of ineffable, I suppose, but we can curb his more misanthropist thinking if he stayed with us” Five explained to her as she took her place next to Ben. Even if the siblings had all equally worked on The Plan, Luther graciously gave Five the reins to it. They didn’t exactly run a school. Their Father vetoed it as a school for superpowered children would raise more than a few eyebrows even if the tax returns would be good (Vanya’s idea and to her annoyed surprise, Hargreeves agreed with but still vetoed).  
  
They ran an open summer camp instead as a trial run. “Get to know the Umbrella Academy Kids” and they invited Patches as a mundane human decoy so people don’t get too suspicious of them (which she agreed to her amusement). They sent out ‘scholarship invites all expenses paid’ to the other children born the same time as them. Only a few got back to them and agreed to it. Klaus quietly suggested maybe, just maybe, the others that couldn’t were either dead or in bad situations where they won’t be able to answer back. Ben agreed and Luther tells them they’ll look for other ways to find the other kids.

Ben would always be around Klaus and this new timeline is no exception (and to an extent, they were even Vanya’s usual training partners) but on days that he isn’t you can find him in the library with Five, planning (sometimes Luther would be there too and you could see him actively trying to become a better person and leader by listening) their next move.  
  
“It’s freaky to know he’ll constantly be around us from now on. Pogo agreeing to adopt Oscar and some of the other kids with no families is one thing, but the Scientific Man? He probably knows stuff he shouldn't. Hell, Five, he probably knows about me,” Vanya took out her violin and began to polish it, a tic she never really got rid of.  
  
“If he tries to harm us, we’ll be ready. He isn’t as above it all as he thinks he is,” Ben smiled. He does that a lot nowadays. Five cleared the table off his plans and erased the chalkboard. “I still am suspicious about Dad. He probably is waiting for this to blow over spectacularly” He huffed. Ben and Vanya didn’t know if they agree or not. Their Father is a complete mystery.  
  
“Well, this plan is working. We let it run as it should. I don’t think meticulously planning every detail will do us much good. For now, let’s just go eat dinner”

 

\----

 

The dining hall was filled with music but unlike before when their Father would insist absolute silence, the kids were allowed to speak to each other and make small talk.  
  
Hargreeves passed by Patches, “Ah, it is the completely ordinary girl”. And Patches responded with a smile, “Good Evening to you too Mr. Hargreeves. Dad and Mom send their well-wishes”  
  
“Yes, yes. Give my compliments to them. Grace and Pogo took a shine to your parents as well”. He paused and looked over at Diego who was helping Grace pass food around. “Erm… You have my thanks, Eudora”. Patches blinked, “What for, sir?”. “For taking care of my children, especially Number Two” and then he strode away with his plate of food.

Patches shrugged. Mr. Hargreeves was a really weird old man. She sat down in between Diego and Vanya and happily ate her dinner before she headed home.  
  
Vanya looked around the dining hall. Oscar and Luther were in a deep conversation about cards. Allison, Ben, and Klaus were talking about this book they read. Even Five was holding a conversation with the other children in the table next to theirs, being surprisingly patient with their many questions. Vanya wondered if Five had his doubts but their plan was working. She felt a nudge to her shoulder. Patches, no, _Dora_ smiled at her and Diego looked over, “You okay, Vanya?”  
  
Vanya blinked. She thinks, that maybe...just maybe...she is finally at peace. Whatever their problems are, it's still there but this time, she has people she could count on. She gave them both a smile and answered:  
  
“Yeah, actually. Never better”

\----

_And you only live forever in the lights you make_

_When we were young, we used to say_

_That you only hear the music when your heart begins to break_

_Now we are the kids from yesterday_

\---

**Author's Note:**

> Something that took me a while to finish but it's done. I don't think I'll write for this fandom again but I just wanted to write cute fluff. A quick note. The young girl with the bird pin and the Scientific Man are introduced in Hotel Oblivion. The Murder Magician I named Oscar but that's not his name but his child's. I figured he could be Oscar Sr.


End file.
